California · Nonprofit
INSTITUTE FOR FRONTIER SCIENCE
INSTITUTE FOR FRONTIER SCIENCE (California) receives grants from 5 organizations whose IRS filings report $705,457 to it, the largest being The Wanda Bobowski Fund ($230,000). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $67k
- Funders on record
- 5
- Grants received
- $705k
- Net assets
- $767k
What Institute for Frontier Science does
Mission
Scientific and medical research and public education of the findings
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
1. The subtle energy research project is a fundamental scientific research project to detect and measure the presence of putative subtle energies associated with biofield practitioners, energy healers, physical correlates of the intention to heal, and "laying on of hands." we hypothesize that these energies are not all conventional and may require new instrumentation. We continue to work with our custom array of sensors that we built previously. Principal investigators are harry jabs, ms, and beverly rubik, phd. This investigation is ongoing.
$8,000 spent$8,000 earned by the program11% of program spending2. Measurement of wireless communication radiation. Project to develop an improved technique to measure electromagnetic fields with extended frequency ranges and sensitivities. This project started in 2018 and continued in 2025 and beyond. Some hardware and software has been developed. Numerous educational presentations were made to the public regarding safety issues.
$59,419 spent$59,419 earned by the program82% of program spending3. Geophysical research project. Scientific investigations to evaluate anomalies of great public interest such as geophysics of native american and european sacred sites. Collaboration with nasa senior scientist's group on earthquake forecasting based on electric, magnetic, ionizing radiation measurements, and solar activity. Observations of biologic electric fields. These investigations are ongoing.
$5,000 spentof which $5,000 as grants$5,000 earned by the program7% of program spendingOther program services, not described on the e-filed return.
$0 spent0% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $72,419.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2020, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2020, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended. The shaded band is where the middle 50% of its peers' revenue would sit, given their growth.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2024 to 2025, from $695k to $767k (+10%).
How it's funded, over time
Each bar is one year's revenue split into where it came from, and every bar is the same height — these are shares, not amounts, so a year that raised twice as much looks the same size. Hover a bar for the split.
51% of INSTITUTE FOR FRONTIER SCIENCE’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (99% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 6 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Leadership and staff
The officers, directors, trustees and key employees listed on each return. Joined and no longer listed compare each filing with the year before, matching people by surname and first initial; a year after a gap, or a roster under three people, has no comparison.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 3 funders, grant income rose $29k → $139k.
2 of 5 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 29% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
From the IRS filings of INSTITUTE FOR FRONTIER SCIENCE’s funders (the co-funder graph). Association, not causation. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How concentrated its funding is
INSTITUTE FOR FRONTIER SCIENCE leans on a few funders — its largest provides 33% of grant income and the top three 93%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
29% of the income these shares are computed over arrives through pass-through sponsors or from payers whose filings do not say what kind of payment it is. Concentration is still measured over all of it, because the money is real; what it does not support is a claim about how many institutions have chosen to fund INSTITUTE FOR FRONTIER SCIENCE.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 69% · 2018 100% · 2019 83% · 2020 50% · 2021 46% · 2022 42% · 2023 72% — growing more concentrated.
“Effective funders” = inverse Herfindahl index (1 / Σ shareᵢ²) — the number of equal-sized funders that would give the same concentration. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
Where its funders are
INSTITUTE FOR FRONTIER SCIENCE draws 54% of its grant income from funders outside California, across 3 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $204k arriving through sponsors registered in 2 states is excluded from the map and the split above: a sponsor holds money on a donor’s behalf, so its registered address would place those dollars somewhere no donor need ever have been. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
Against its field
INSTITUTE FOR FRONTIER SCIENCE holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 107 social science nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 107 social science nonprofits under $100k, FY2025
Organizations like INSTITUTE FOR FRONTIER SCIENCE
Organizations whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over every organization in the US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.
In California
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
91% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
91%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for INSTITUTE FOR FRONTIER SCIENCE: IRS status (Business Master File, Publication 78, auto-revocation), the OFAC sanctions lists, the Internal Revenue Bulletin, and California registration, with the Rev. Proc. 2018-32 §8.01 reliance elements stated element by element. Generated from the current files at the moment you download it.
Screens are triage, not determinations; a source that cannot be read reports not screened, never clear. Screen this nonprofit · How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds INSTITUTE FOR FRONTIER SCIENCE?
- INSTITUTE FOR FRONTIER SCIENCE (California) receives grants from 5 organizations whose IRS filings report $705,457 to it, the largest being The Wanda Bobowski Fund ($230,000). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does INSTITUTE FOR FRONTIER SCIENCE have?
- IRS filings report 5 organizations giving $705,457 in grants to INSTITUTE FOR FRONTIER SCIENCE, 4 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of INSTITUTE FOR FRONTIER SCIENCE?
- The Wanda Bobowski Fund is the largest funder on record, with $230,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like INSTITUTE FOR FRONTIER SCIENCE find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in California. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2020–2025), and the filings of 5 funders that report grants to it. “On record” means captured in the filings we have parsed — a funder that does not e-file, or whose grant detail is not itemized, will not appear. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind. Trends on this page end at FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving; later years are shown and marked, and move no figure. Data on this page was exported October 14, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing